Yellowjacket
Yellowjacket is the code name for the leader of the criminal mercenary team known as The Ultimates. He is a superb leader and tactician, and has battled numerous superheroes, including the heroes of the Heroes Unlimited organization. Background Earl Whittaker earned his living as a chemist, his focus primarily on creating a new bonding agent that would have no impact on the environment yet would be strong enough to support tremendous volumes of weight. The harder he worked, the more the precise formula seemed to elude him. Finally he reconsidered his formula and split it into two parts, agent a and agent b. He found that separately these two bonding agents failed to live up to expectations, but when combined they created exactly the type of adhesive Dr. Whittaker was looking for. Triumphant in his success he attempted to strengthen the adhesive with a third agent, compound 12. The result was a horrendous explosion that took out half og the lab he was working in and severely scarred his face and upper body. He spent months in recovery, overflowing his insurance and, eventually, emptying his savings. To make matters worse, the company he worked for fired him. As he recovered, Dr. Whittaker considered his options. He believed he could certainly sell his formulation for a few million. Or he could use the adhesive to strike back at the company that failed him and the bosses that kicked him to the curb. After his release from the hospital, he talked his way back into the lab to collect his notes and, at home, created his super adhesive once more and an elaborate, clunky delivery system. Donning a simple homespun costume and naming himself Binder, he returned to his lab and got away with millions of dollars worth of experiment notes, chemicals, and blueprints. As Binder, he began a career of striking out at corporations by robbing their notes, attacking armored cars carrying their payroll, and even going so far as to rob the personal homes of CEOs and CFOs. Over the five years that he operated as Binder he also tangled with half a dozen superheroes, and won. His winning streak came to an end when he was confronted by Paragon himself. Whittaker was arrested. As he awaited trial, he was surprised when his public defender was replaced by no less a personage than attorney and CEO of JenCorp, Jennifer Teal. Teal promised him she would work pro bono on his behalf, which made him wary. But he agreed. To his tremendous astonishment, his trial was short and quick: he was acquitted of all charges. Only after the trial was over did his attorney demand the price he knew would ultimately come but the way it came shocked and pleased him. Teal revealed to him that she was the nefarious Advent Overlord known as Ultraviolet. She had been following his career as Binder and was honestly impressed with his tactical skill, brilliance, and success. She promised him a chance to reinvent himself and become the leader of a new team of criminals. He was given the right to choose his own team mates and name the team. All he would have to do is be on call for whatever jobs or assignments Jencorp would put to him. Whittaker readily agreed and reinvented himself as Yellowjacket. Since that fateful day he first donned the Yellowjacket armor he has been a loyal and faithful employee of Jencorp, and his team--the Ultimates--have gone on to make history as one of the most successful and respected criminal teams operating in Paradigm City. Skills, Abilities, and Talents Dr. Earl Whittaker is a well known and regarded chemist working for JenCorp industries. He specializes in bonding agents of all kinds and has created several such agents that have been sold to other private organizations and the military, bringing in millions for Jencorp. There are very few whom suspect this sweet-tempered, mild and viciously scarred man is the leader of one of the most successful crime groups in American history. Whittaker's criminal experience and innate tactical skill are always put to use on the field. He comes up with attack plans, team maneuvers, and defensive plans that are almost always successful. Unlike many other crime groups Whittaker actually takes the time to study and keep extensive files about the heroes of Paradigm City. He is an expert with such knowledge, knows several secret identities, and is well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the foes he studies. Appearance and Personality Dr. Earl Whittaker is a small man, dive feet eight inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. He is horribly scarred from the accident he had in the lab, his face is a mess of scars and skin grafts from which pale blue eyes peek out at the world. He is very soft spoken and attentive when spoken to. He is, in fact, quite a likeable sixty year old man. As Yellowjacket, he cuts a very imposing figure. The armour pulls him to a height of six foot three and a weight of 200 pounds. The armor itself is made of a black, reinforced skintight mesh with dull yellow armor plating at all of his body's sensitive points. Despite his criminal career, Yellowjacket has no interest in commiting murder. His attacks are all designed to impede and constrict his foes without doing sustained or severe damage. He will accept assasination assignments, but only if such assignments come directly from Untraviolet herself and even then they must be for dire reasons. Ultraviolet understands Whittaker's stance on this point and very rarely burdens him with murder assignments. Powers All of Yellowjacket's powers derive from the high tech armor he wears, which was designed for him by Ultraviolet herself. The armor is strong enough to repel pistols and bullets. It also can generate a high-intensity tachyon shield that is strong enough to repel military grade firepower and absorbs energy, which is converted into power for his defensive and weapons systems. The face plate of the armor is made of trilinium, which deflects sudden and intense flash attacks. The small converters at each jaw line convert incoming air into oxygen, making him immune to gas attacks of all kinds and eliminates smoke. The visual and audio systems in the helmet allow him to see into the ultraviolet and infrared spectrum, allow him to broadcast his voice through a scrambler to make it unrecognizable, and allows him to receive and broadcast over all radio frequencies. The helmet also provides him a radar system which allows him to detect and locate hidden or invisible enemies, and set up a 'distress beacon' which is actually a lure to bring his enemies right to him to be ambushed. The helmet also has a computer controlled tracking system, which allows him to track and target up to six individual enemies. His targeting system ensures that he rarely misses with his attacks. The weapon systems of the Yellowjacket armor consists of an internal and reinforced dispense system that combines his adhesive agents on his command. The primary ejectors of the agents are through the palms of his gloves. Yellowjacket is able to attack with his adhesives as thick balls of glue, spraying nets, ropy streams, or rapid fire softball-sized blasts. His adhesive is so strong it can even hold such powerhouses as Brahma, Girl Wonder, and Paragon. The adhesive ejects as a liquid which quickly solidifies when exposed to air, and dissolves after roughly ten minutes. If Yellowjacket is in a dire situation or decides something needs being destroyed he will employ Compound 12, which ignites when combined with his adhesive and has a burning property that is the equivalent of white phosphorous, it clings and burns and cannot be extinguished by water. The back of the armor houses four jointed, flexible "arms" that can be extended at will. Each of the arms is also capable of projecting Yellowjacket's adhesive, which allows him to attack and bind up to six targets at once. The arms can also come together to form 'wings' which, applied to his booster system, allows him to fly at up to 160 MPH with a computer controlled guidance system. The system allows him extremely good maneuverability in the air. Lastly, the armor is equipped with a miniature teleportation system, allowing him to be instantly teleported back to Jencorp when activated. Reputation in the Underworld Yellowjacket is one of the most respected criminals operating in Paradigm City because of his experience, tactical prowess, and successful career. He can call upon numerous underworld contact for aid. These contacts include the Geodesics of course, Chromatic Dragons, arms dealers, and black market goods providers. As far as his team goes, he treats his subordinates in The Ultimates extremely well. He compensates them fantastically for their time and risk. He listens to their opinions, concerns, and thoughts and acts on them where appropriate and does everything he can to address concerns with positive resolutions. He truly likes and worries over his team members to the point that if even one of them is injured in a confrontation he will break off combat and whisk the entire team away to safety. Yellowjacket doesn't deny his team mates any jobs or assignments they, as mercenaries, may aquire unless such a job directly conflicts with the interests of Jencorp. He also has a deep liking and respect for Ultraviolet, though (despite rumors) there is no romantic interactions between the two. Quote "You've interfered with operations one too many times."